Non-RPG General News - Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One

[Redglyph]

Wccftech wrote about Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, the next game of the series developed by Frogwares. It will be released on November 16th on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S (PS4 and Xbox One yet to be announced).

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One Combat and Open World Hands-On Preview - Fight Like a Detective

Back in June, I had the chance to try out the first couple of hours of Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, the new entry in the series by Frogwares, and I enjoyed what I experienced quite a bit: the investigation mechanics are as solid as they were in previous entries in the series, the writing excellent, and new features like the ability to wear disguises promise to spice up the experience even more.

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, however, isn't just about investigative gameplay, which did not need much tweaking over the previous entries in the franchise. This time around, Sherlock Holmes and his dear friend Jon will be able to explore the fictional isle of Cordona at their leisure, discovering all sorts of secrets and side quests. June's preview build featured very limited open-world gameplay, but a new build that has been made available earlier this month finally allowed us to go hands-on not only with the open-world mechanics but also with what will be the most controversial feature of the game: combat.

[...]

More information.

 

[Capt. Huggy Face]

Ah, Sherlock Holmes. I'm pretty sure I've read every damn word Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote of the legendary detective, but I'm dead certain I keep buying these games and never finishing them, not to say they're bad at all. I'm not entirely sure why I never finish them. Holmes says the human mind is like an attic; there is only so much space, and you must focus on what is truly important.

History, they say, is prelude. Too bad Holmes isn't on MS' Game Pass, which is perfect for games such as these. A sale, then.

 

[Redglyph]

I've played Crimes and Punishments 3 months ago and I quite liked it. I'll most probably get this one too.

 

[Arkadia7]

I have this on my steam wish list...I love Sherlock Holmes and this looks very good.

 

[Wisdom]

Frogwares has too much drama for me to jump on this even though I like the idea of Sherlock games. We'll see how it develops and if they dont fight with another publisher. Would prefer it on a platform that can't remove the game when they have another spat but highly unlikely considering how they treat their current customers.

 

[JDR13]

Frogwares has too much drama for me to jump on this even though I like the idea of Sherlock games. We'll see how it develops and if they dont fight with another publisher. Would prefer it on a platform that can't remove the game when they have another spat but highly unlikely considering how they treat their current customers.

The way I see it, that nonsense over The Sinking City was more the fault of the publisher, Nacon. They tried screwing Frogware over and then put a cracked version of the game on Steam which caused Frogware to file a DCMA request to have it removed.

 

[lackblogger]

I keep buying these games and never finishing them

I did that for a while with their first five Sherlock titles (2002-2009), I kept buying them and never finishing them, but that was because they are so obscure in their choice of puzzle and resolution of said puzzles. Frogwares just makes really, really weird games. Always appealing, but always strangely wrong in weird places.

The last three since then I've just watched on Youtube instead. Watching someone else be bewildered by Frogware's design decisions is so much better than experiencing them myself I've come to find.

I'll definitely be watching an amusing let's Player go through this new one at some point as I drift of to slumber late at night.

 

[Carnifex]

I've only played one of the Sherlock Holmes games up to this point, I need to do some research and see if the others are better than the one I did play. I'll keep an eye on this one and see what folks think when it's out, I do so enjoy a good detective game, sadly, they seem to be rare spawns.

 

[Wisdom]

The way I see it, that nonsense over The Sinking City was more the fault of the publisher, Nacon. They tried screwing Frogware over and then put a cracked version of the game on Steam which caused Frogware to file a DCMA request to have it removed.

Frogware needs to get their shit together before talking to another publisher as they can only pull the line "scary publisher bad" so many times.

Wanadoo was their first shot. Ended in a contract dispute and ended up in removal of games from platforms.

Adventure Company -> DreamCatcher -> JoWood was their second dispute but didn't end up pulling game from shelf but ended contract early and tried to 'self publish'

Then Focus Home Interactive in 2019 that ended in contract dispute and removal of games from platforms.

Then BigBen/Narcon 2020 Sinking City that ended up with games removed from platforms...

Like seriously who writes contracts so bad that 4 publishers 'screwed you over'? Get a lawyer to read before you sign Frogware. Zero respect for them.

 

[JDR13]

Like seriously who writes contracts so bad that 4 publishers 'screwed you over'? Get a lawyer to read before you sign Frogware. Zero respect for them.

Odd that I've never heard of any of those incidents other than the Nacon dispute.

 

[Ripper]

Yeah, I'd seen a few things that made me think, "I'm starting to wonder about you guys..."

 

[Redglyph]

Some of those disputes were indeed public, but the publishers themselves had other disputes before or after. I couldn't find any reference to others which may have been quieter, or an exaggeration / false information from a media for all we know.

Legal issues around IP ownership are frequent, and publishers are known for screwing developers and authors too, that doesn't make it a bad game (or a bad book). Those are not long, complicated games that require months of patching and support, and I never had any problem with the games I bought from them in the past anyway.

So I'm not really concerned about that. If the game has a good feedback and is available in a store, I'll get it.